


Gingerbread

by QianLan



Series: Modern AUs [12]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Competition, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gingerbread House, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 07:52:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13003206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QianLan/pseuds/QianLan
Summary: So they've never made a gingerbread house before... That's not going to stop Poe and Finn from entering a gingerbread house competition where the grand prize is a trip to Hawai'i.





	Gingerbread

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally [posted on tumblr,](https://cha-llamala.tumblr.com/post/164215946063/gingerbread) based on a prompt from the amazing Sourlander.

 

It wasn’t that Finn hated surprises.  He didn’t.  He just preferred if he knew about things ahead of time, could properly plan for them, could… Okay, it was totally that Finn hated surprises, which was why he was currently fuming at his boyfriend, Poe.

Poe had signed them up for some sort of local charity contest and sprung it on him at the last minute and now, the two of them were standing in the middle of a mall at a long table that looked straight out of  _The Great British Bakeoff_  filled with all sorts of icings and candies and… “We’re doing what,” Finn hissed as he tied on his apron.

“We’re making a gingerbread house,” Poe said.

“A gingerbread house?”

“Yeah,” Poe said as if that were the most natural thing in the world.

Finn shook his head.  Poe handed over a laminated sheet of paper, saying, “It has to be at least one-foot tall, include two windows and one tree and…”  Poe stopped talking and just studied Finn.  “You look like you’re trying to use your laser eyesight to kill me.”

“If I had laser eyesight, I would.”

Poe pushed his glasses up his nose.  “What?  I thought it would be fun.  Plus, it’s for charity.”

Finn couldn’t argue with the charity part, but there was one glaring hole in Poe’s logic.  “Neither one of us knows the first thing about making gingerbread houses.”

“So,” Poe said.  “We’ll figure it out as we go along.”

Finn growled and was about to tell Poe off when a way-too-bubbly woman and a well-coiffed man stepped out.  They had microphones and were talking to a crowd that had gathered at the edges of the competition space.  “Hello!  And welcome to the third annual Gingerbread Dream Houses Charity Competition!  This year, we have twenty couples who are going to try to make the tallest, the wildest, the most intricate gingerbread houses they can with the ingredients provided.  Now, everyone is going to have three hours to make these fantastic gingerbread houses, and at the end of the time, each couple will have to move their creation to the judging station.  Then, the judges will talk to all the couples and make their decision.  The grand prize wins an all-expense paid trip to Hawai’i.”  The crowd cheered.  “And this year, we’ve added a People’s Choice category.  You’ll notice that each couple has been assigned a number.  Vote for the house you like the best and that couple might just win a relaxing weekend at the Bumblebee Bed and Breakfast at Lake Orion.”  The crowd cheered again.  The man held up his hand.  “But enough of us talking.  Let’s get to building.  Your three hours start now!”

The crowd roared.

Finn turned to Poe.  “Now what?”

“Uh, now I guess we start assembling a gingerbread house.”

“And how does one do that, Poe?”

“Uhhhhhhh,” Poe pushed up his glasses and started looking around at some of the other couples.  He then pointed to a table to their left.  “There.  Look.”

Finn spied a man and a woman moving expertly at their station.  He was pulling out sheets of gingerbread and cutting them while she was piping icing on them.  Finn bit his cheek for a moment and then nodded.  “Okay, I think I’ve got the basic idea,” he muttered, turning to the supplies laid out in front of them.  “Poe, you start getting the icing…”  He looked over to see Poe, standing, slack-jawed, staring at the other couple.  “Poe?”  He sighed.  “Poe,” he hissed.  “Quit staring!  They’ll notice us!”

Poe jerked out of his trance.  “Well, they’ll definitely notice if you keep on shouting.”

Finn rolled his eyes.  “Just get the icing ready.”

“Yes, sir!”

**# # # #**

After about 45 minutes, they had the basic structure complete.  They’d decided to go with something a bit out there—they were both huge  _Star Wars_  fans, so they were trying, as best as they could manage, to build a gingerbread Millennium Falcon.  Finn had cut the gingerbread to fit and Poe had iced it and Finn had to admit, it looked pretty good.

“Only one problem,” Poe said.

“What,” Finn asked, slightly offended.

“It needs to be a foot tall.”

Finn frowned.  He looked around and found a tape measure.  He got it out and then swore under his breath.  “It’s an inch and a half too short.”  He stomped in a small circle.  “Kriff!”

Poe couldn’t help but smile.  “I love that you swear in  _Star Wars_.”

“Yeah, wonderful.  Any idea how to add some height?”

“Well, I’d say either landing gear to prop it up…”

“Making it more unstable,” Finn said.

“Or add a sensor dish.”

Finn smiled.  “Sensor dish, it is.”

Poe pushed his glasses back up his nose and said, “And while you’re doing that, I’m going to see what sorts of candy we have to work with.”

**# # # #**

Twenty minutes later, Finn looked over and couldn’t help but smile.  For some reason, Poe was covered in powdered sugar, his glasses were pushed up onto his head, making his hair stick out in all sorts of ways, and he had a candy cane sticking out of his mouth.

“Ummm, is this what we call seeing what candy we have?”

Poe turned, flustered.  “I might have been sampling a bit.”

“A bit?”

“The powdered sugar exploded on me.”

Finn laughed and walked over, using the edge of his apron to wipe Poe’s face off.  “I’m sorry, sweetie.”

Poe closed his eyes as Finn wiped his face off.  “Does this mean I’m forgiven.”  He opened one eye.

“Yes,” Finn sighed.  He laughed.  “This is kind of fun, actually.”  For a moment, he and Poe just stood there, staring into each other’s eyes.  Then, they both remembered they were in a busy mall, surrounded by twenty other couples and dozens more gawkers.  “Um, yeah,” Finn said, backing away.  “Ummmm, I’m going to work on the cockpit section and try to cut out the windows and I think you should mix some grey food coloring into that icing and we’ll ice and then use some of those,” he pointed to a bright array of tiny candies, “for lights and stuff.”

“Sounds good.”  Poe made to push his glasses up his nose and then stopped, confused.  He tried again, but nothing.

“They’re on your head, sweetheart,” Finn said, turning back to the gingerbread.

**# # # #**

Finn lost all track of time while making the cockpit.  It was a frustrating piece of work and it took him two tries to get everything just as he wanted it.  As he carefully attached it to the rest of the ship, he realized that Poe had been awfully quiet for a long time.

He turned to see Poe fashioning a tiny little Christmas tree out of icing and candies.  “It has to have a tree,” he said.  “I figured we could either put it on top or to the side or something?”

Finn smiled.  “That’s wonderful.  You have the grey icing?”  Poe handed him a bowl of silvery looking icing.

“I found some metallic coloring.  Thought that would add some pizzazz.  Oh,” Poe said, producing a small container of edible glitter.  “This should make it sparkle too.”

Fin smiled and got to work icing the ship and then covering it in what was probably way too much glitter.

After a little while, Poe came over with the tree and the candies he’d selected and they started decorating.

Poe elbowed Finn at one point and nodded over to the table they’d been watching earlier.  The man and the woman had somehow managed to craft a three-story Victorian-style house complete with working lights.

“We are so screwed,” Finn said.

“No,” Poe said, shaking his head.  “It’s too over-the-top.  No one likes that much perfection, anyway.”

Finn laughed, looking at their creation and then looking at what the other contestants had made.  “Well, ours is certainly unique.”

Poe bumped his shoulder into Finn’s.  “That’s the spirit.”

Finn reached down and picked up the instruction sheet.  “Okay, at least a foot tall.”

“Check.”

“At least two windows.”

“Check and check.”

“One tree.”

“Check.”

“At least three different types of candies?”

“Check, check and,” Poe popped a gumdrop into his mouth, “check.”

“Okay, so we have the basic rules out of the way.  Now we need to decorate the board that it’s on.  How much time do we have left?”

Poe looked up, squinting.  He pushed his glasses up his nose.  “Uh, twenty-five minutes.”

“Kriff,” Finn said.  “Uh, black icing with white dots for stars?”

“I’ll look through the candy and see if there is anything star-like,” Poe said.

Finn started mixing in black coloring for the icing.

**# # # #**

Finn was spreading the icing when he saw a bowl with crushed white candies come into his view.  “Perfect,” he said.  He grabbed the bowl and started placing stars, one by one, into the black icing.

“Ummm, Finn.”

“Not now, Poe.”

Poe started poking him.  He ignored it.

“Uh, Finn?”

“Not now, Poe.”

He started poking Finn harder.

“Stop poking me, Finn.”

“I’m not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention.”

“What,” Finn asked, looking up.  “What is so kriffing important that—”  Poe pointed to the big red clock at the front of the competition space that told them they had less than five minutes to finish and move their house to the judging area.  “Oh, right!”  Finn started sprinkling his “stars” onto the icing.

He stepped back.  “What do you think?”

“Beautiful,” Poe said.  “Now, let’s move her.”

Each of them grasped a side of the board the gingerbread was on and carefully started lifting.  The whole thing tilted, just briefly, but enough that each Poe and Finn held his breath.  “We can do this,” Poe said.

“Sure,” Finn said, sweat pouring down his forehead.  “How hard can it be?”

They slowly started walking the gingerbread over and they could hear the crowd counting down the time.

Poe tried to go faster.

“No,” Finn said.  “Just walk steady.”

“They’re making me nervous.”

“Just ignore them, sweetie.”

“Ten…nine…eight…seven…”

Finn bit his lip as he and Poe slowly lowered the gingerbread into place.

“Two…one!”  A giant buzzer went off just as Poe and Finn stepped away from the judging space.

“Did you see that,” Finn shouted at Poe.  “Did you see that?”

Poe was laughing.  “Yeah, I saw it.”  He drew Finn into a huge hug and kissed him.  The two of them walked over to an area with the other contestants, and they waited to be called up for judging.

Finn looked back at their creation, proud of what they’d been able to accomplish in three hours.  Then, he noticed a tiny gingerbread box next to their ship.  “Hey Poe,” he whispered.

“What?”

“What is that?”

“What’s what?”

“That box,” Finn asked.

Poe opened his mouth to respond when the announcer guy came back and started bringing couples over to meet the judges.  Poe and Finn watched as the other couples walked over and explained their creations to a panel of three stern-looking people.

“There’s some really good stuff,” Finn said, leaning over to Poe.

“I know!  Who knew you could get this creative with gingerbread?”

Poe and Finn were the last couple to be called over.

One of the judges said, “Couple number eight, please tell us a bit about your design.”

Finn looked to Poe who looked back at Finn and mouthed,  _Go for it._

Finn said, “Well, it’s the Millennium Falcon from  _Star Wars_.  See, Poe and I don’t know anything about gingerbread houses, but we both love  _Star Wars_.  In fact, we met because of  _Star Wars_.  I rescued him from a really bad blind date by pretending to be in his  _Age of Rebellion_  gaming group.  Anyway…”  He shrugged looking at Poe, who gave him a huge grin.

The judges looked at the ship and then one of them pointed to the small gingerbread box on the edge of the board.  “And what is this?”

“Uhhh,” Finn started.

Poe pushed up his glasses and said, “Well, you see, if we’re being honest, Finn didn’t know that we were coming to a gingerbread-building contest tonight.  He thought we were going to a sushi-making class, but I actually set this up a while back because…well, I thought it would be fun and it’s for charity and…”  Poe picked up the box and handed it to Finn.  “And I wanted to think of a really memorable way to do this.”

Finn had a confused look on his face.  “Ummmm?”

Poe chuckled.  “Open the box, Finn.”

It took Finn about two seconds to realize what was happening.  He looked at the box and then at Poe and then back at the box.  “Poe Dameron, are you about to propose to me using gingerbread?”

Poe gave him a throaty laugh and went down on one knee.  “You better believe it.”

There were gasps in the crowd and then, silence.

Finn shook his head and opened the box to find a Claddagh ring.  “Nerfherder,” he whispered.  He pulled the ring out and stared at it and then looked down at his boyfriend.  “Of course, I’ll marry you.”

The crowd went crazy.

Finn bent down to kiss Poe and whispered in his ear, “You are adorable and ridiculous, you know that?”

“Ridicable?  Adorulous?”

“Just kiss me already, Dameron.”

Poe stood up, wrapping his arms around his fiancée and lifted him into a spinning kiss while the crowd cheered and clapped.

**# # # #**

Twenty minutes later, they were ready to announce the results.

“And in third place, with one of the more creative builds of the night, couple number eight with the Millennium Flacon!”

Poe and Finn smiled and waved to the crowd.

As the announcer revealed second place, Finn leaned in to Poe.  “Sorry we didn’t win.”

“Babe, we could’ve come in last place and I’d still be the happiest man on the planet.”  He pushed up his glasses.  “I’ve got you.  That’s all that matters.”

Finn leaned in and kissed Poe’s nose.

“And first place, with the trip to Hawai’i is couple number fourteen, with their three-story Victorian House.”

“Too perfect,” Finn said.  “Yeah, right.”

Poe shrugged.  “Obviously these judges like boring old perfection.”

After the cheering died down, the announcer said, “And now, for the People’s Choice house…and I’m guessing this isn’t a surprise to anyone.  Couple number eight with the Millennium Falcon!”

Poe and Finn laughed and ran up front to claim their prize.

“I guess we know where we’re going on our honeymoon,” Poe said.

Finn laughed.  “Please tell me you didn’t set all this up just to get a free honeymoon.”

Poe shook his head.  “No, just a side benefit.”

**# # # #**

The following December, Finn surprised his husband by bringing him back to the Gingerbread Dream Houses Charity Competition.

Poe smiled as he tied on an apron.  “So, is this our thing now?”

Finn chuckled.  “It’s for charity.”  He then nodded over to couple number fourteen, last year’s winners, “And besides, this time, they’re going down.”

Poe laughed.  “I love it when you get competitive.”  He looked at their table full of candies and treats.  “So, what’s the plan for this year.”

Finn turned and gave him a maniacal smile.  “Gingerbread Death Star.”

“That trip to Hawai’i is ours!”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> **Thank you for reading!**
> 
>  
> 
> As always, I appreciate all comments and kudos.


End file.
